2011 - It was a very good year

Fun fun fun with my best people. And it was a great year for music: Aerosmith, Motley Crue, ACDC, Slash, Billy Idol,  Iron Maiden, Alice Cooper (twice!), Saxon and Alterbridge all in one summer, marvellous!

Mistletoe and Wine

And another Christmas is over, way too quickly as always. But what a lovely Chrimbo it was. I got my Great Frog ring which was fab and lots of other lovely pressies including the Chloe perfume, a feather trilby and a fabulous abundance of Keith related reads. Bring on the New Year. 

A couple of sale bargains, I couldn't help myself.

Sorry for the lack of updates - I have been struck down with some virus for the last week, it is a grinch that is stealing my Christmas! On the mend though. 

Until next week...

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALL!!

in LOVE

with The Kooples

Oh so cool, Saville Row inspired fashion brand "The Kooples gathers its inspiration from the codes of rock, from music, but with its own signature traits that only truly belong in 2010."

This is like my dream fashion brand. 

"The Kooples brand found its name through two concepts: couples and rock bands. Think of The Kooples as a band obsessed with the idea of couples, but The Kooples is above all about style, a style that’s deeply rooted in the greatest couples of music history."

"The first couple you’ll think of as you stroll passed the window front of a The Kooples boutique is the Jane Berkin / Serge Gainsbourg duo. Her trademark bangs and long hair, his graying six o’clock shadow. Her pea coat worn with a mini skirt, his long sleeved denim shirt with a black-striped tennis jacket. Her tank top and suspenders are revealed through an open neck lined sweater, and his signature white Repettos, no socks. If you have a wicker basket for her and a pack of cigarettes for him, you’ll be irrefutably paying homage to their look when you go shopping at The Kooples. There are many other couples that have left their mark. Anita Pallenberg and Keith Richards for example. Pallenberg can be remembered for her short shorts and large belt buckles, while Richards transformed scarves and jewellery into accessories that could also be worn by men. While were on the topic of the stones, let’s talk about Mick Jagger and his first muse, Marianne Faithfull. At the time Faithfull tallied on her youthful innocence, her blonde hair highlighted by the sober and petite black coats she wore. However, don’t get wrapped up in that innocent image: alongside Jagger – that often wore the now ubiquitous, slim fitting jeans and pointy shoes – they were to indulge in less mainstream forms of behavior."

And the French brand is slowly taking over the London high street with stores in Kings Road, Carnaby Street and soon to be in St Christopher's Place, this is very exciting indeed. And what a fabulous advertising campaign, they even have videos of the couples on the website talking through how they met etc. 

Anyway, I'll leave you to lust over the fit Kooples-couples imagery like I am. I have never been this excited over a brand..

Impulse purchase on Friday evening. Only for Keith would I stop, do a double take, pick up, walk to the till and pay twenty quid for a t-shirt. I just had to have it obviously.

under the tree, under the tree

I have a bottle of Love Chloe waiting for me at Christmas. I can never think of a lot of ask for at Christmas but I always have a new perfume on my small list. As a marketing buff I am just in love with the way that Chloe is branded, it just scream Lauren Hutton and 70s Charlie Girl glamour to me, and of course it smells lovely too. I wasn't as keen on the Chloe perfume but Love Chloe was just right. Very excited to start wearing it. 


Speaking of Christmas presents, I will be going on a trip to Carnaby Street with Mother soon to get my Great Frog ring, joy!

I can't stop listening to Coldplay's new Christmas song. It's gorgeous, if a little depressing for Christmas. I bloody love a bit of Coldplay I do, they satisfy the acoustic, well written modern British music side of me. Nice to see a new Christmas song out and about too that isn't a pre-no.1 destined x factor song. 

Chelsea Girl

I went Christmas shopping with mother today, barrel of fun as always when I go out with her :). 

Anyway, we paid a trip to the newly refurbished River Island and came across 'Chelsea Girl', the new range that takes River Island's original name from the 70s, mum was nostalgically remembering how they all thought that the logo with the girls face was an odd choice.. because they thought she looked like she was dying from a heroin overdose..

As you can imagine, I wanted practically everything from the range and they have more gorgeous items online. Here are some of my favourites, I particularly love the floppy hat and suede skirt with the little fur coat. I was tempted to buy all three today, I might have to pay another visit..

perfume - the cheat's way

Thought I'd share with you.. a few years ago I bout the 'True Pink' perfume from Marks and Spencer and to my surprise found that it was almost exactly the same scent as the Lacoste Touch of Pink perfume I had before then. The next perfume I bought was 'True Red' - which smelled just Hugo Boss Deep Red. I started to realise that Marks and Spencer obviously had a bit of a perfume-clone collection, even the bottles are very similar. 


Then, on Friday as I was walking home, I passed thorough M&S, had a look in their Christmas gift section and saw 'Azure Breeze'. The bottle looked exactly like the Dolce and Gabbana Light Blue bottle, one of my favourite perfumes and my 'scent' from when I first started seeing my boyfriend. I tried the tester and lo and behold, it was exactly the same. And only £6 for a handbag sized bottle! I was pleased as punch, as I can't afford to purchase new bottles when I run out. When I saw my boyfriend that evening and he smelled my perfume he thought I had bought some more 'old school' Light Blue!

I have read that the Isis perfume is the same as Issey Miyake and that Autograph and another of the fragrances are very similar to Chanel perfumes. They also do most of the fragrances in miniature bottles that you can hang on the Christmas tree for only £3.50. 


I'm not usually a fan of rip-offs, but when I can get my favourite scent for only £6 I am willing to re-consider. The fragrance obviously doesn't last as long as a perfume as they are all eau de toilette but for a cheap perfume they smell surprisingly expensive. Go and have a try!

Knight

On Friday evening I was lucky enough to be in the audience for the Business of Fashion 'Fashion Pioneers' interview with Nick Knight, iconic photographer and founder of SHOWstudio.
The interview was really interesting, and inspiring (although dare I say it, I didn't really care for his pompous attitude - particularly when asked the advice he would give to his young self from the experience he has gained, he simply said he could only answer that question as advice to someone else and went on to imply that he knew it all even when he started...)
However, arrogant manner aside, I was inspired by what he had to say. Particularly his comments on the narrow view of beauty in the fashion world and how the fashion world excludes 'normal' people. Great to hear this coming from one of fashion's most influential photographers. I sat there wishing I had heard this interview before writing my final year dissertation at university, which was based on that very topic.


"Fashion is so frustratingly narrow when it comes to the parameters of accepted beauty. You have to have alternatives" 


The interview was streamed live online but the recording should be available to watch online this week, I would recommend.

Christmas take two

I was quite disappointed when my velvet jumpsuit arrived and just wasn't as nice as I'd thought it would be. So it has now been returned and I'm going to go down the shorts and blouse route. Blouse was purchased today and I can't wait for it to arrive, will work with so many things this Christmas. Both Topshop of course, seems to be the easiest one-stop online destination for cute pieces at the moment!

Speaking of cute blouses and Topshop, I tried on the cutest feather print blouse when I returned the jumpsuit, hard to see in this picture but it's adorable. It's £35 -

I'm very chuffed to have won Rich Hippie's 'Elements of Style' competition! Really looking forward to reading the book.

Check out her blog here!

The Lust List